Questions arising after and during Pain management courses

[barkingmad]

walking, swimming, wildlife ......playing with elephant moths!

[Rosie]

pets, any craftwork, sewing etc, shopping, internet support group?



Rosie

[loosebones]

genius ideas!!!
Thanks guys

[Fiona-Jane]

how about hula hooping, juggling etc?

fi xx

[loosebones]

genius fi! My brain has gone awol and these ideas are really cheering me up now!

[Blaadyblah]

Puzzles, see also reading, physically passive, mentally active.
Meditation.
Singing along to loud music - Cardiovascular but not physically challenging.
Baking.

[sarahh]

Hi LB What the others have suggested about activities is good.

I have been accepted too onto a pain managment course which happens to be the first one this friday 1-4pm got told this at the end of last week so I told them I am on a residential weekend going up this friday and that I cannot attend because I will be travelling at that time. So I can attend the other 3 the following weeks which is ok the first session sound boring anyway lol. Don't see how it going to help anyway only going to keep pain consultant from breathing down my neck about the course his suggestion to do it not mine.

Had a letter today for a follow-up appointment with my pain consultant at the end of October I think it has something to do with the letter from Prof G also means I can get him to do a letter for stanmore aswell.

Still atleast the course is in the afternoon and just round the corner in the car from me. Have to fill in a questionaire have filled it in but the questions make not much sense to me lol.

[barkingmad]

Day 5 of the pain management course came and went! Today we discussed anatomy and a mix of various disorders and syndromes! Then about 10mins on pacing! Hmmm! Me thinks they could have done a little more on that one...Oh and the lead physio stated that there is too many people wrongly diagnosed with SI joints problems... in particular instability!, apparently as there is only a little movement in the SI joints he doubts so many of us have this problem! He then didnt believe me that I can click my coccyx in and out, so I did it to lots of errrrsss!! He also said that proletherapy, lignocaine injections into spinal joints have no proven benefit and so it will be harder to get them! Also denervation is probably on its way out as the nerves regenerate and/or other nerves just change to pain nerves, so no point!!! Think as he kept going on about it all and commmenting that research doesnt support any of these pain treatments the people in the group were getting more and more depressed!!
Then it was back to relaxation exercises..just as we were breathing in blue air and exhaling grey air...one of the girls stomachs did an almighty rumble, which started everyone laughing, so today we didnt manage to get to the house in the pine forest with a burning fire...ahhhhh!!! Such a shame could of done with a quick visit to my secret lair!
Surprisingly, the chairs are so uncomfortable, the height of them is bad and they dont support lower backs either. Although they give us lots of fidget breaks and a 20min coffee/nicotine fix its so hard to sit and pay attention...but I have a plan for next weeks (not going Friday due to residential!!)..I have found a storeroom with very soft pillows, so I shall help myself to a couple of them to help next time! Also plan to take my seat wedge with me..if I have to sit from 9-12 every Monday and Friday, then I am going to be comfortable!!! Just another 9 sessions to go then!!!

[sarahh]

Hi Donna day 5 of a pain management programme I only go for 4 sessions over 4 weeks well will be 3 cause I can't go to this one on friday.

Lead physio clearly doesn't have a clue what he is talking about alot of physio's talk out their a**e. Spinal injections will work for some and not others they didn't work for me but thats not to say they wouldn't work for someone else. People do have SI joint problems so what is he talking about. Nice one doing that clicking your coccyx. House in the pine forest with the burning fire sounds lovely. lol that girls stomach good idea on getting those pillows from the store room. Yikes only another 9 sessions does it really take that long. Oh hun I think I would have given up after the first session. Starting at 9am aswell ergh nasty time of the morning fortunatly mine is running 1-4pm.

Alot of these people that run them do not have a clue, if mine ever so much as say something wrong they will so get questioned and interigated about it that they wouldn't dare mention it again.

[barkingmad]

Some of what they say is interesting but at other times they just make you feel helpless really...they keep telling us that its all to do with the brain needing info etc ....if thats the case then surely the medical profession could find the bit in the brain that deals with chronic pain and zap it or something!...no not as simple as that! Its also to do with your environment, thoughts, feelings and actions....aarghhh!, a long with scarring of tissue injuries. The physio even questioned that my shoulder joint had subluxed...but though I dont mind clicking my coccyx in and out (thats been like that since I had eldest 14yrs ago), I draw the line at purposefully subluxing shoulders!

Apparently (forgot this yesterday!) there is even a problem with joint resurfacing..something I was plucking up the courage to ask surgeon about! Guess he is right to talk about research and to explain that some treatments aren't backed up by research so wont be provided but it does make you think wow what is there then!

To be honest Sarah, I'm too scared not to attend...apart from this Friday...just in case my GP refuses my prescription or in case my pain consultant wont see me again...just cancelling my acupuncture has led to two calls from the GP! She is lovely but has high hopes that the course will help. Down here after the 14 sessions, you have to go back to the group after two months, six months and a year..to see if you have benefited and to have a quick refresher!!

[hannah]

I know pain management courses are tough, and you do have to sit there and work out what is applicable, but the tools they give can be really really helpful.
The following parts I found particularly helpful:

relaxation
how stress and other factors can massively increase how bad pain feels/how little we are able to cope with - makes it less scary and a number of times I've been able to go 'Ahhhh I'm in loads of pain!!!!... hang on - I'm real stressed about x. hmm that has made me tense..hmm.. relaxation/coping strategies... feel a lot better/more in control.
pacing
not stopping doing things all-together cos they hurt once - build up to it and try it again.
Not assuming that every hurt=dislocation/subluxation - once you've had a certain number your poor little pain sensors get a bit confused - There is a lot of HMS pain that is not chronic, but some of it is so don't 'write off' the chronic stuff entirely. see where you can use it and focus on that rather than the bits where it is nonsense.
under-doing/over doing cycles and how to avoid.
Communicating in constructive ways re your pain/disability with your family and close friends.

The PMC physio generally specialise in chronic pain, so take their advice regarding it and apply as much of what they say as possible, but don't be silly either and dislocate wildly. Also remember that you aren't really there to deal with specific injuries so don't expect them to give specific injuries much attention - I know it is a tough balance to find, but Good luck to both of you.

PMCs don't cure the pain, nor do they diminish the injury, they aim to give you the tools to cope better. Even if you only come out with a slightly better idea of pacing and how not to over do/under do and you put that into use, the course has been worth it.

(Donna, yours sounds much the same format as mine, with one day a week for months then reviews. And one of the girls used to get the giggles every relaxation session cos I used to wear black leather gloves to relaxation classes otherwise I'd forget where my hands were and my brain would panic and think they'd been turned completely round at the wrist )

[barkingmad]

Well that would be great Hannah!! I wont be able to stop giggling now next time we go into ...'the Zone'!!

[Rosie]

Hi all

On my PMC we had daily relaxation classes, my main problem was I kept going to sleep! Towards the end of the course we had to run a session ourselves, without the nurse who usually led them. After the initial fits of giggles (we had managed without them before) we settled down, and one of the other participanrs started talking us through. He did the walking down the lane, smelling the flowers, going through the gate, into a field etc etc and it was goiing really well until he 'and in the field, in the far corning, is a bull running straight at you. That was it! We all dissloved into fits of giggles, tears streaming down our faces, we eventually decided that laughter was probably the best form of relaxation anyway.
I am quite proud to report that the next day we managed to go through our last relaxation session fine.



Rosie

[barkingmad]

Oh no! Gloves and charging bulls! I def wont make it thro the next relaxation session...mind you we only do it on the MOnday session and seeing as we have the weekend I will probably sit on Monday in a complete vacant state! That might be my survival technique!

[sarahh]

Lol Rosie that made me laugh I would have so done the same or worse lol.

Yikes Donna your gp calling you because you had to cancel your acupuncture mine wouldn't even care and as for my pain consultant he is far to busy being sarcastic and abrupt have to see him next month aswell oh what fun lol. Thats good what they do down your way in one way but in others they are dragging it out. Will see what mines like next week glad I can't go this week atleast thats one session less.